Leroy Almon
Leroy Almon | |
|---|---|
 Leroy Almon at his home in Tallapoosa, Georgia, 1995 | |
| Born | 1938 |
| Died | 1997 (aged 58–59) |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Bas relief |
| Movement | Modern Art |
Leroy Almon (1938–1997) was an American artist known for his woodcarvings and paintings.[1]
Life
[edit]Almon was born in Tallapoosa, Georgia[2] and grew up in Ohio. After graduating from high school, he became a show salesman and later, worked for the Coca-Cola Company in Columbus, Ohio. At Gay Tabernacle Baptist Church, Almon met Elijah Pierce. In 1979, Pierce became Almon's artistic mentor. He taught Almon how to carve wood and run the gallery space that Pierce operated out of his barber shop.[1]
Almon married Mary Alice Almon and returned to Tallapoosa in 1982 to restore his childhood home. When Almon returned to Georgia, he became an ordained minister, a nondenominational evangelist, and a police dispatcher.[1]
He died in 1997 of a heart attack.[3]
Career
[edit]When Almon returned to Tallapoosa to restore his family's home, he converted the basement into a private studio. Almon exclusively used manual tools to map and carve his woodblocks. "His preliminary sketches would be transferred to softwood panels and carved in low relief with pocketknives and chisels."[1] They would then be painted or adorned with glitter, plastic, beads or other found materials. Christianity was the main focus of Almon's life and artistic work.[1] He has had exhibitions at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art,[4] and various universities[5]
His work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[6] the American Folk Art Museum,[7] Ackland Art Museum,[8] Minneapolis Institute of Art,[9] the Birmingham Museum of Art[10] the Pérez Art Museum Miami,[11] and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Arnett, Paul; Arnett, William (2000). Souls grown deep : African American vernacular art of the South. Tinwood Books. ISBN 0965376605. OCLC 698479039.
- ^ "Leroy Almon, Sr. | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-15.
- ^ "Leroy Almon | Just Folk". Retrieved 2019-06-24.
- ^ "UNO Ogden Museum of Southern Art Hosts Works From House of Blues | University of New Orleans". www.uno.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ Brown, Daryl. "Library: CSCC Library's Art Collection: Leroy Almon, Sr". library.cscc.edu. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Leroy Almon, Sr". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Exterminate". localhost. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Resurrection". collection.ackland.org. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Christ, Leroy Almon ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art". collections.artsmia.org. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Autobiographical (panel 2 of 6) | Birmingham Museum of Art". artsbma.org. Retrieved 2019-06-21.
- ^ "Leroy Almon • Pérez Art Museum Miami". Pérez Art Museum Miami. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
- ^ "Artist's Worktable".
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1938 births
- 1997 deaths
- People from Tallapoosa, Georgia
- Coca-Cola people
- Painters from Ohio
- Painters from Georgia (U.S. state)
- 20th-century American painters
- American male painters
- American woodcarvers
- American Christian clergy
- Dispatchers
- Christian artists
- 20th-century American clergy
- 20th-century American male artists